A Lesson In Violence [Closed/Zâbel]

As Nagato sheathed his blade upon his boot holster she closed her eyes against the pains of her body refusing to give them dominion over her life. She visualized healing golden light filling her body with each inhalation, coursing through her body to root out her aches. Each exhalation gathered the darkness and expelled it from her form. It was amazing what power the mind held but she knew she had only begun to skim the surface of possibilities there. For now just to ease her focus away from the pain would suffice for now.

Opening her eyes she walked over to join Nagato by his equipment duffle. She could not fault his assessment of her abilities, though at the mention of the centuries of physical degradation she got a bit of a cramp in her face. She was hardly as bad as all that. Much of the work she did was physically demanding. No doubt Nagato thought all she did was sit at a desk all day. Even so she didn’t see anything productive to be gained by objecting to his words. Her main goal had been achieved; Nagato had agreed to give her training.

Reaching for the sticks she was curious about the man he mentioned from the First. “If you think I can benefit from meeting with this man then I will do so.” It was quite the concession for she was not thrilled by the notion of meeting new people. Strangers came in many shapes and sizes and you never knew what interacting with them might bring. More often than not all they saw was her family name and then invented for themselves an ideal of who and what she was rather than bothering to see what was right before their eyes. Often she wondered why she held onto the family name, especially after the betrayal of her father. Even so, she was afflicted with enough sentimentality to have never cut ties with the past completely and she knew she never would. For good or for ill she was Kohara, the last of her name.

Gripping the sticks, one in each hand, she stood before him and said, “Yes Nagato. I am ready to proceed.” Weary as she was Zâbel was no shirker and would work with every ounce of energy she possessed to achieve her goals. It would have to be enough. It was all she could do.

Word Count: 403 + 6096 = 6499

Nagato allowed a brief smile at the woman’s response. “Good.”

Throwing one of the sticks aside he glanced at the girl “We only need one stick for this. I am going to teach you the basic angles of the system I practice, 1 to 12. These can be adjusted as needed but I’ll teach you the stick variants for now then I can show you how to adjust for blades. After I can teach you these things it will take minor adjustments to alter these strikes for your Bhuj. We can worry about that later however.”

Shifting his stance the Second Division Shinigami held his stick outwards with his right hand and slid his left leg back. “Hold the stick out with your right hand and lead with the leg on the same side. Take your live, empty, hand and put it on your chest to keep it out of the way.” he instructed “We’ll simply use lateral footwork moving our right foot back and forward as needed. We can address more complex footwork later such as the triangle footwork but it’s unimportant right now.”

Nagato had learnt the system a long time ago in the Rukongai but the words that came so easily to his lips were not anything he had been told in the districts where his training had been somewhat substandard and yet he knew it was correct.

“Now hold your stick diagonally back so it sits over your shoulder with your fist at about chest height… no, no readjust your grip. A few inches of the stick should come out under your grip, this can be used offensively but we can worry about that later. Now do as I do, follow along as best you can.”

Waiting until her stance was about right the man nodded.

“Angle 1 is a diagonal downwards forehand aimed for the head, specifically the temple or ear.” he told her as he performed the strike, twisting at the waist. When the stick was extended after the strike he drew it up to his left shoulder this time and reset his stance . “Angle 2 is a diagonal downward backhand to the head again.” he said throwing out another strike. “As you hit with this strike you should lift the back heel. This will allow you to twist into it.” he stated demonstrating the strike a number of times again as he exaggerated the body movement to power the blow.

He nodded watching Zâbel and continued once she seemed to get it. “With Angle 3 you should step back with the lead leg and this is a horizontal forehand aimed at the elbow and the rib. Angle 4 is the same but a backhand strike.” he said as he demonstrated the two strikes “Again don’t forget to lift the heel.”

Standing in the position where angle 4 he nodded “Now bring the back leg, your right, forward again in a forehand thrust to the heart. Aim for the heart.” he said as he executed the thrust. “Now do a backhand arcing thrust, again aim for the chest.” he said demonstrating the strike as he brought the stick up and thrust it forward this time not moving his feet. “That’s 5 and 6. Half way there”

Stepping back once more to bring his right leg to the rear he nodded “Angle 7 is a forehand thrust to the face, similar to Angle 5 but not follow through and aimed higher. Although in truth you can practice aiming the thrusts at the chest or the face although most prefer an arcing thrust. That is a downwards one aimed at the heart, the chest or even the lung.”

Recovering from the thrust he brought the stick over his head. “Angle 8 is a vertical downwards cut at the head. A bit like a one handed Jōdan-no-kamae. However as you cut you should bend the knees a little and let the stick continue downwards until it is pointed at the ground” he explained as he slowly made the movement.

Straightening up again he continued “9 you step forward and do a diagonal downward forehand to the knee, going low as you do so. Then 10 is a diagonal backhand to the knee on the other side.” he explained showing these moves, this time moving swiftly and not giving his student as much time as he had prior.

“Then for 11 and 12 you do a pivoting diagonal forehand uppercut and then a diagonal backhand uppercut. These start low at the hip and rise up to the shoulder.” he explained showing it as a slashing motion. “That is obvious a very wide slashing motion, useful for power but you can also do these you can do them like this aimed at the chin.” he stated and with a few twists of his wrist he brought the sticks sweeping upwards in tight uppercut motions.

“Then we do it again with the left hand, leading with the left leg this time.” he stated. Then simply calling out the numbers 1, 2, 3 and so on until 12 he executed the motions in a non-hurried fashion but also without pause between each strike leaving it up to Zâbel to keep up.

Turning to face her he stepped back to put space between them. He paused for a moment as if debating whether to continue before frowning slightly and continuing.

“After that we can do the same thing but link everything together into a flowing drill.” he told her. This time he performed all 12 strikes but in an extremely swift fashion as the moves blended perfectly on into another, each recovery bringing flowing perfectly into the beginning of the next cut.

He stepped back and rested the stick on his shoulder, letting his empty hand drop to his side and he nodded. “There’s another 12 strikes. Then after that there are additional ones to make the flowing drill more complex. Also these kinds of martial arts lend themselves well to hybridisation. Practice these angles, in each hand, and get the biomechanics right but all we’re really doing is providing you with a set of tools and helping you perfect your co-ordination. We’ll move onto double stick once you have this down.”

Gesturing with his free hand at her the usual look of annoyance and frustration that Nagato wore returned to his face. “Well get started. Right hand then left hand, keep repeating until I say you can stop.” he commanded although after a moment he frowned deeply “Oh and you can ask questions of course.”

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WC: 1094

Total WC: 7957

Zâbel could not but help to respond with a smile of her own, his were quite rare and as such she didn’t need the handbook on social norms for dummies to understand that he found her willingness to continue pleasing. It should not have come as any sort of surprise to the man for she was a stubborn thing. Coming to him at all spoke volumes about how serious she was taking her desire to train. Taking his lead she too would tosses one of the sticks aside leaving her with one in her right hand. Unlike his assessment of her current skill level which had involved combating him directly she was pleased to finally be getting to the mechanics of the forms involved in this method of combat.

Mimicking his stance, she too set her left leg to the rear gripping her stick before her at chest height even making the adjustment to choke up a bit on the stick as he advised her to do. Placing her ‘live’ hand upon her chest he grinned to feel her heartbeat quickening with excitement. “Why is it called the live hand, Nagato-san?” It was the first time she had used an honorary form of address with him but it seemed to slip naturally from her lips for all that it was not her usual practice. It was not enough for her to just ape his motions but that she wished to learn as much as possible. She came from a tradition where absolute respect was given to one’s instructor, not so much for the individual themselves but as the representative of all those people who had trained and passed down their knowledge to the one imparting the lore to their students. It was a sacred trust, this passing down of one’s martial traditions and she would venture to treat it with the full measure of her regard, not only for the lore but this man himself.

As she went through the motion of each angle she could quite easily envision her strikes targeting the intended areas upon the body of an imaginary opponent. Her moves came delayed until after he had demonstrated each one coming to understand that each one ended in such a way as to set her up for the beginning of the next one. Fluidity of motion which seemed to capitalize upon the momentum generated by the previous angle and exploiting that for the next; it was quite logical and comprised of sound Physics principles. Even so she was quite aware of her need to develop her sense of coordination to achieve that fluidity and maximize the effectiveness of her strikes.

Switching over to the left hand, once each angle had been demonstrated, she ran through the dozen strikes again. The moves felt natural to her, though she was having to focus upon lifting her heel after each move that required her to lift her right heel. For some reason it seemed more natural to lift the left. At first she had to internally count repeating the target area for each strike as she ran through the moves: 1 to the temple, 2 backhand temple, 3 elbow/ribs, 4 backhand elbow/ribs, 5 forward heart, 6 reverse thrust heart, 7 to the face, 8 reverse to the face, 9 deep strike to the knee, 10 backhand to the other knee, 11 rising diagonal cut, 12 rising diagonal cut.

She was a bit awkward with the reverse thrust to the heart and this was usually one in which she failed to lift her heel. Even so, she continued at a steady pace even though he went through a rapid succession of all twelve angles she knew she was not ready to speed things up lest she lose the precise flow of the moves. Over and over she would repeat the forms, switching up to the left hand before beginning with the right once more. Typical to her natural flaw, she was holding her breath as she focused rather than letting her breathing occur at an efficient manner. As such she became winded long before she should have and had to stop and catch her breath.
It made her seem to be out of shape and was a bit embarrassing to her to have to rest after only three repetitions. “Goodness”, she commented, “that is much more physically exerting than it looks.”

Word Count: 732 + 6499 = 7235

Nagato said nothing after she asked her question, instead allowing the woman practice her forms. He didn’t comment, didn’t correct her mistakes and didn’t reprimand her for her sloppy form. He simply remained silent until she came to a stop of her own violation.

“I thought I said to keep going until I told you to stop.” he noted drily although there was no real anger in his voice, for all his bluster and warnings about the harshness of his training methods the man knew when to pull back and allow his student to recover.

Letting her catch her breath the man shrugged slightly. “I have to admit I’ve never found this level of training to be even slightly exerting.” he mentioned “Except for a few times after I first passed over when I was weak from exhaustion and hunger.” he noted, referencing his time in the Rukongai. Even around Zâbel he rarely spoke of his time in the districts and the things he had done. In truth he was ashamed and disgusted by the man he had once been, he would sooner have no one know of his transgressions during those days.

“As for your first question.” he noted “Cut at my head with a number 1 using your right hand.” he instructed.

As his opponent did so his own stick came in swiftly to crack into her’s stopping the attack dead in it’s path. At the same moment his free hand slapped into her own, the one that she held her stick with and quickly he gripped her enclosed fist. He leant in and his left arm snaked around her right and immediately locked her extended arm at the elbow. Her own stick was now trapped under his bicep between his arm and ribs.

“It’s called the live hand because it’s alive. Too many swordsmen focus solely on their weapons and forget that the hand is a weapon itself even when being used against something like a blade or staff. In Kali we use the empty hand frequently for both defending and attacking although the approach is different depending on the weapon our opponent wields.” he answered calmly.

Stepping back he twisted at the waist keeping Zâbel’s arm locked and as such tugging her along with him, keeping her unbalanced and only a whisker away from being pulled out of her stance altogether. From here he mimed slamming the butt of his stick down on her elbow. “This is why we keep the bottom of the stick beneath out grip, for these sorts of strikes.” he stated “Of course from this position I could attack your head, sweep your legs, shatter your elbow but the easiest thing to do is…”

In a swift jerk he pushed against her locked elbow and twisted away, pulling the stick from her hand completely, trapped as it was between his arm and side, as he stepped away.

“We call this defanging the snake, for obvious reasons.” he added “There are numerous methods of doing so. It simply means neutralising the immediate threat be it from a knife, stick or even a punch, kick or anything.”

Handing her the stick back Nagato turned and retrieved his own second stick from the ground. Picking it up he gestured for her to do so with her own. “Come on. We’ll move on to something more interesting. Double stick paired drills. Come stand in front of me.”

Once the other Soul Reaper was in position Nagato stepped away from her so their distance was correct for what he had in mind. “This is called Heaven Six, it’s the first double stick sinawali drill that I think you should learn.”

“We’ll start of leading with the right leg.” he stated “Hold the right stick over your right shoulder and the left stick against your right side, this is called chambering the stick. We’ll be mirroring each other’s attacks, doing the same actions.” he explained as he took the stance himself. “The first strike is an Angle 1.” he stated throw out the attack slowly letting the woman do likewise. “Then we pull the stick we’ve attacked with back and chamber it over the left shoulder.” he stated as he did so. “Now we attack with the left stick, again an Angle 1.” he stated and once again he did the move slowly allowing time for his student to do so as well. “The left stick is called an Angle 1 because we’re attacking from the right hand side with it.” he stated. “Lastly we do a backhand, an Angle 2, with the right stick.” he said and did the move once more, striking with an Angle 2 with the right stick which was being held over his left shoulder.

“Now we switch feet and do the same thing again but from the opposite side.” he stated running through the movements with the woman.

“And again, switch feet.” he stated as they switched back to leading with the right leg, this time he began to speed things up.

Nagato continued this paired drill, dialling up the speed with each repeat.

“You can practice this against their air if you wish but I recommend finding a tree although you should do your strikes lightly and only speed up infrequently. You don’t want to damage the stick or your wrists.” he told her without ceasing the training. Nagato spoke calmly as he easily moved through the strikes, barely seeming to give his actions any focus.

Finally when he noticed the woman beginning to flail, a mixture of his strikes going to quickly and her exhaustion he decided to call an end to the session.

“That’s enough for today. You can practice the first 12 Angles on your own as well as the Heaven 6 drill. Later I’ll show you the Earth 6 drill. The only difference is the Earth drill uses low targets whereas Heaven drills are all aimed for the upper target areas. Then we’ll do a standard set which mixes in both Heaven and Earth targets.” he told her. “The next drill will be the 8 drill and then we’ll do the 10 drill. This system is a version of the Lacoste system although the version I’ll be teaching you is a hybrid with elements of other systems showing through.”

Returning to his bag he threw his sticks into it. “You keep those two.” he told her gesturing to the ones she was holding “You’ll need something to practice with.”

Straightening up he frowned “One thing to focus on which I have not mention. When you strike make sure you’re hitting with the knuckles facing and not the side of the stick. That’ll be important when we move onto blades.”

Nagato lifted the duffel back and threw it over his shoulder. “I know you were more interested in empty hand training and I will train you more in that when we have time.” he promised “But I honestly believe it’s more important that you learn to use your Zanpakutō properly first. The unusual shape of your release will give you an advantage against people who are unused to such a thing.”

Shrugged he glanced away. “Besides not knowing is a bit unfair on Houwang, don’t you think?”

A faint giggle sounded out from within his head.

"You big softy." Kako teased. "You know this a bit more like the old you after the academy... not all aspects of your past self where so terrible you know."

"You should put more thought into the man you wish to become." Mirai added quietly.

Nagato frowned slightly, Kako was bad enough but now Mirai was taking jabs at him?

"Anyway." he added roughly looking annoyed. "We're done here right? We can meet again next week if you'd like, I'll be returning from an assignment on Friday Evening so I'm free Saturday."

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WC: 1310
Total WC: 9267

Zâbel arched a delicate eyebrow at him before lifting her left arm to wipe at her forehead with the back of her wrist. Was he serious? It was taking everything she had not to rub at the growing stitch in her side. Pride prevented her from complaining, respect for the man held tight her tongue, eagerness for the lore compelled her on. She could walk away and go back to being adequate, subsisting within the stagnant world of the lab and forgotten corridors of the fourth, or she could break away from all of that and actually grow toward her potential. Naturally she would do as he said, even as her cheeks reddened over his assessment of her weakness. Indeed she could not fault him for it was as though she was a raw recruit and there was only one place the blame could lay.

Facing off with him, she gripped her stick in her right, chambered over her same shoulder, and set her live hand upon her chest. As she struck out for his head she didn’t even have to think about lifting her opposing foot this time. Such successes were minimal at best, the resounding crack of his stick intercepting the strike came with its deadened echo even as he moved to capture her hand and arm until the limb was trapped beneath his own. The implications were obvious and every bit as deadly as he went on to explain and had this been an actual encounter she would have been a world of hurt.

When he twisted she had little choice but to release her stick. Disarmed so easily as she was it was a lesson she was not likely to forget anytime soon. Even as he handed the weapon back for her to take, her fingers closing around its minimal girth, she had to agree that ignoring the live hand was something of which she was all too prone to doing. “I see”, she commented taking up the second stick and assuming a position before him as instructed. Disarming techniques would be just one more thing for her to study.

Her focus was intent as he began to explain about the Heaven Six sinawali drill. Mirroring his moves, she walked through the forms of the strike pleased by their simplicity easily picking up the pattern of the drill. Even as they repeated the maneuver speeding up as the numerous repetitions commenced she was ever conscious of the stitch in her side growing stronger. It was not long before her arms began to feel like rubber and she began to lagg responding slower and with increase weakness in her strikes until at last he called an end to the session.

She did not let pride keep her from rubbing her side, holding both sticks in her left as she rubbed at her ribs with her right. “Thank you Nagato-san. I happen to have just the perfect target to train with back home.” She thought of her long neglected dojang back at the Kohara compound and all the times her family had tried to get her to train. There was no loss of equipment to work with, there had only been lack of ambition. The trees would be safe from her attacks, at least, for there were target dummies she could use instead.

Even with just the minimal amount of contact her wrists ached, but then they were her weak point. Naturally he knew this and so she took his words of caution to heart. The idea was to improve her coordination, gain in skill and strength, not injure herself through improperly executed technique. Even as he laid out his schedule for when he would be free to meet with her again, she felt Houwang stirring within her. Upon mention of his name he even deigned to break his silence by remarking, “I like this guy. Too bad the girls hen peck him so much.”

The woman blinked rather stunned by the bit of gossip her Zanpakuto had imparted knowing he meant Nagato’s Zan spirits when he said ‘the girls’. Supposing that the frown upon the man’s face had to do with some private words between he and his Zan, she searched his face wondering what lessons they tried to impart. Typically one’s spirit served to instruct one on the path of enlightenment and personal growth, but she supposed one might be blighted with personality conflict. She knew from her own experiences that mercy was often missing in the teachings received when visiting one’s internal realm.

However this was not the time to probe into another’s personal life. That would do little but serve to sate her curiosity and had nothing to do with her own path to enlightenment. Instead she bowed to the man and said, “I shall look forward to seeing you upon Saturday then as well as meeting this man of the First. Until then I trust all will go well with your assignment. Thank you Nagato.” She smiled, even worn out as she was her spirit was anything but diminished. There was an energy within her that felt light and invigorating, more alive than she had been in ages and she knew with a certainty that she had made the right choice in seeking him today.

With a wave of her hand she smiled again, “Farwell Nagato. Until the weekend!” before heading on back to her home to shower and rub ointments into her aching muscles.

// Thread Exit

Word Count: 912 + 7235 = 8147